...pungent characterizations and telling vignettes. There are indelible portraits of Jackson, Van Buren, Calhoun ("the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had...never been born and could never be extinguished"), Clay, Webster, Marshall, and Madison, along with incisive narratives of the assassination attempt on...

...pungent characterizations and telling vignettes. There are indelible portraits of Jackson, Van Buren, Calhoun ("the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had never been bom and could never be extinguished"), Clay, Webster, Marshall, and Madison, along with incisive narratives...

...the brink of eternity."2 Harriet Martineau, the English writer, had described Calhoun in his prime as "the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had never been born, and never could be extinguished."3 But now he was haggard, frail, and feeble, riddled with tuberculosis...

...estimate and speech which so impetuous a nature has been able to attain. Mr. Webster, leaning back at his ease, telling stories, cracking jokes, shaking...constitution, would illuminate an evening now and then. Mr. Calhoun,the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had never been born and could never be extinguished,...

...estimate and speech which so impetuous a nature has been able to attain. Mr. Webster, leaning back at his ease, telling stories, cracking jokes, shaking...laughter, or smoothly discoursing to the perfect felicity & the logical part of one's constitution, would illuminate an evening now and then. Mr. Calhoun, the...